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Bronner Secures Sears

New business acquisition and executive moves were on tap last week at Bronnercom, which added Sears Home Services to its roster and dispatched chief creative officer Mike Slosberg overseas after London creative director Martin Macdonald abruptly resigned. The $2.5 billion unit of Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based Sears, Roebuck & Co. hired the agency for a “teleservices consulting project” expected to last through the end of the year, according to Bronnercom chief executive David Kenny. There was no formal review. Sears Home Services specializes in home improvements and appliance repairs. Bronnercom direct marketing arm BSH in Boston will design and implement a large-scale telemarketing and customer relations program. All phone communications between client and consumer–from operator training to phone scripts to fulfillment–will be designed by BSH, said Kenny, who declined to discuss budget figures. The agency was brought into the Sears fold by Home Services chief executive Rich Srednicki, who worked with the shop in the mid-1990s when he oversaw the AT&T Universal Card program, Kenny said. Though the Sears assignment does not presently include direct marketing work, Bronnercom has successfully parlayed modest projects into long-term relationships before, most notably with Johnson & Johnson and General Motors. Sears works with New York-based OgilvyOne and Wunderman Cato Johnson for direct marketing. Separately, Macdonald, who was named senior vice president and executive creative director for the agency’s London office, has resigned and will leave by month’s end, Kenny said. Macdonald, who joined in February after stints with WestWayne, Atlanta, and other U.S. shops, did not return calls. Macdonald left WestWayne in March 1998 after a clash of philosophies with chairman Ben West. “It’s always a disappointment” when a key player doesn’t work, said Slosberg, who will lead the U.K. creative department for several months while he searches for a replacement.